Headworx

Today I want to share the approach to software development, driven by the quality oriented mindset, we practice at WiHo.me . Since the beginning, we have been heavily investing in tools. Strongly believing the investment will pay off. We have even created a fully blown manufacturing line. Software manufacturing line. It took us a lot of time and effort to integrate everything. The reason is, we have very broad range of technologies we develop for. And in the end we need a unified image of the entire system to be built. The technologies involve: Low level applications for ARM Cortex M0 and ARM Cortex M3 processors Runtime modules running on ARM - based, embedded Linux platform (two targets: Marvell and Freescale) Custom bootloader and custom Linux kernel Linux scripts and support modules (UPnP, SMBD, Apache / FastCGI, networking subsystem, 3G modem subsystem, ...) Complete installation images of Linux OS for the target platforms A .NET client application with built-in machine c...

On January 29th, 2013 Nest announced the $80M financing round at $800M valuation . The GigaOM article mentions two growth vectors for the company. The first is Europe: A considerable amount of that growth is happening in Europe, in addition to its shipments in the U.S. The second is broadening the reach: not only controlling the temperature but controlling the entire house: Nest also plans to use the funds to offer a more comprehensive smart home service along with its product, which could include lighting and alarm systems, too, we’ve heard. The statement about European growth is a bit cryptic. As far as I know (owning two Nest thermostats), there is currently no growth, as Nest does not sell or otherwise support European installations. But the rumors are they will have a model for the UK market soon. What about the other European countries? Let me speculate a bit. USA has been fortunate to have the thermostat controllers more or less standardized. This is why Nest has...

Today I'm coming back to the #1: the mindset of the entrepreneur . This post is very personal, but I have the need to say loud and clear what I want: I want us (our company) to be the number one. Worldwide. Of course it is easier said than done. And it may never happen, for various reasons: failed strategy, failed execution or just pure bad luck. But there is one thing we have to do, when we want to get to the top. We have to stand up and start climbing. Climbing with the mindset of really going to the top. What does this mean for a software company? First it means we will not rush. Never. It is a long trip, not a sprint. It is like building the highest building on Earth. You start with a bedrock. The toughest and most stable. What is the bedrock of a software startup? The founders. And their mindset. And their vision. Their shared vision. And their shared mindset. Then you assemble the team of craftsmen . They don't have to be the best individuals to constitute the best ...

Today's blog is about agility. Again from my own (recent) experience. I don't know if we still count as a startup (the company is 20 months old), but agility is that skill that helps startups survive. Even more, it is one of the most important ingredients of success. December 31st, 2012 was Monday. This will probably be marked as the most important day in the history of our company. The day we redefined the strategy for 2013/2014. It all started the Friday before. I saw several very scattered and benign looking signs of new technology and product developments and started connecting the dots. Sorry I cannot describe here exactly what I mean, but I hope to be able to do this later in 2013. A light bulb above my head lit and I was all electrified. On Friday night I called Adam, my business partner and the co-founder. We talked for two hours. Then probably five hours on a phone on Saturday and even more on Sunday. Then we met on the New Year's Eve (Monday) in the office. An...

Last Friday I received the Twine . High expectations and a bit of disappointment. It works. But somehow I cannot find enough value in SMSes or emails triggered by the Twine sensor to compensate the cost of $200. After all, today for $200 you can have hell of a gadget. A modern Internet tablet or even a Chromebook , fully equipped with high resolution display, 320GB drive and wired / wireless LAN connectivity. Also, while Twine is one of the first battery - powered Internet - connected, autonomous "thing", it does not introduce any real novelty. Similar platforms, like the ioBridge.com , have been available for years. Twine offers three sensors: water, magnetic and wire contact. ioBridge has many more, and it offers actors too. Not to mention the Iota kits for $50. The Twine has inspired me to touch on the very important issue of security in the world of the Internet Of Things. It is an example of many implementations I see today. Things talk to a web service. Sure they us...

There are moments when I think the Internet connection I have is just fine. And then there are the reality check moments, when I feel like I had an equivalent of a 56kbps dialup service. This happens when I deal with the new developments in consumer video recording and photography. A year ago I got myself the Samsung Galaxy Note I, a phone capable of recording HD video. Nice! And I took my first short video, just a few minutes long. Only to realize the video FILE is more than 1GB in size. So I have it. I have the video. There is no way to share it (without compressing and losing the quality). There is no way to carry more files like this one with me either. I backup them on my LAN NAS server, as this is the only place capable of dealing with 1GB files. It has 8TB of storage space and 1Gbps LAN interface. A month ago I fell in love with the Sigma DP1 Merrill consumer compact camera. The Merrill is unusual. It is based on the latest Foveon X3 sensor (I wrote more on that 6 years a...

Sometimes I can't stop wondering how far mobile network operators are behind times. Yes I know I've written a number of times on that subject but I think it is worth crying. After all someone may hear the call. So a couple of observations from the last two days, living with my MNO. I talk a lot via phone while driving. Driving around a jammed city is boring, especially in Winter. So I talk. And from time to time my calls are dropped. I can understand this. I roam from one cell to another and the second one is full, unable to accommodate my call, so the call is dropped. But then the network never dials back to reconnect the call for me. I have to do this manually. The network knows the disconnect reason. It knows it was not me hanging up. It should relieve me of the manual redial. But it does not. Even worse. When the call is dropped, both parties dial back to reconnect. And the call setups very often collide. So the network actually knows the parties are trying to reconnect...